Zach Sobiech (1995 - 2013)

At age 14, Sobiech was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer which mostly strikes children. CBS reported that during his treatment he underwent 10 surgeries and 20 rounds of chemotherapy. He started writing music after his diagnosis.  In May 2012 his doctors informed him that he had up to a year to live. Sobiech recorded […]

Zachary Scott (1914 - 1965)

Born in Austin, Texas, Zachary Scott was a distant cousin of George Washington, and his grandfather had been a very successful cattle rancher. He was also of direct Greek descent, his full surname being Skotidis. Scott intended to be a doctor like his father, Zachary Scott Sr. (1880–1964), but after attending the University of Texas at […]

Zachary Taylor (1784 - 1850)

Zachary Taylor, a general and national hero in the United States Army from the time of the Mexican-American War and the the War of 1812, was later elected the 12th President of the United States, serving from March 1849 until his death in July 1850. Northerners and Southerners disputed sharply whether the territories wrested from […]

Zaha Hadid (1950 - 2016)

Zaha Hadid began her studies at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, receiving a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. In 1972 she traveled to London to study at the Architectural Association, a major centre of progressive architectural thought during the 1970s. There she met the architects Elia Zenghelis and Rem Koolhaas, with whom she would collaborate […]

Zakes Mokae (1934 - 2009)

Mokae was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, moved to Great Britain in 1961, and to the United States in 1969. He turned to acting at the same time as playwright Athol Fugard was emerging. The two worked together on Fugard’s first international success, The Blood Knot, from 1961, a two-hander set in South Africa about […]

Zao Wou-Ki (1920 - 2013)

Zao was born in Beijing with family roots in Dantu, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province. In his childhood he was brought back to his hometown Dantu where he studied calligraphy. From 1935 to 1941, he studied painting at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. In 1948, he went with his wife Lan-lan, a composer, […]

Zara Cully (1892 - 1978)

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on January 26, 1892, Zara Cully was one of ten siblings. She graduated from the Worcester School of Speech and Music, and was one of the oldest performers active in television at the time of her death. In 1940, after an appearance in New York City she became known as “one […]

Zarah Leander (1907 - 1981)

Actress. Born Zarah Stina Hedberg in Karlstad, Sweden. Her career began in revues and operettas in her home country. Her first movies were also made in Sweden, but it was only after the German production “Premiere” (1937) that she managed her breakthrough. She became one of the greatest stars of German film arousing enthusiasm with […]

ZaSu Pitts (1894 - 1963)

Actress. Born Eliza Susan Pitts in Parsons, Kansas, she was named for her mother’s two sisters, each of whom wanted the child named after her, this resulted in ZaSu early in life. It didn’t require a Hollywood agent. She moved to Santa Cruz as a child where her talent was recognized and encouraged from her […]

Zdzislaw Beksinski (1929 - 2005)

Renowned Polish painter, photographer, and fantasy artist. He is the only modern European artist to have had an exhibition in the Osaka Museum of Art in Japan. A prestigious exhibition in Warsaw in 1964 proved to be his first major success, as all his paintings were sold. In the 1980s his works gained on popularity […]

Zebulon Pike (1779 - 1813)

Zebulon Pike was born during the Revolutionary War on January 5, 1779 near Lamberton, now called Lamington, in Somerset County, New Jersey. Pike would follow in the footsteps of his father, also named Zebulon, who had begun his own career in the military service of the United States beginning in 1775, at the outset of […]

Zeffie Tilbury (1863 - 1950)

Zeffie Tilbury was born on November 20, 1863 in London, England as Zeffie Agnes Lydia Tilbury. She was an actress, known for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935) and Camille (1921). She was married to L. E. Woodthorpe and Arthur Frederick Lewis. She died on July 24, 1950 in Los Angeles, […]

Zein al-Sharaf Talal (1916 - 1994)

She was born in Alexandria, Egypt to Sharif Jamal bin Nasser, Governor of Hauran and Wijdan Hanim. Her father was the nephew of Sharif Hussein bin Ali of Mecca and her mother was the daughter of Shakir Pasha, Governor of Cyprus, grandnephew of Kâmil Pasha.  Queen Zein played a major role in the political development […]

Zeke Canova (1898 - 1980)

Actor. Appeared in films of the 1930s and 1940s. Member of the singing/acting Canova family. (bio by: A.J. Marik)  Family links:  Parents:  Joseph Francis Canova (1873 – 1926)  Henrietta Perry Canova (1872 – 1950)  Spouse:  Isabel DeSilva (1905 – 1981)*  Siblings:  Zeke Canova (1898 – 1980)  Anne Canova (1901 – 1994)*  Harry LeRoy Canova (1904 […]

Zelda Kaplan (1916 - 2012)

Zelda Kaplan The world of fashion is in mourning after Zelda Kaplan, 95, died after fainting in her front-row seat at a fashion show yesterday. The drama and spectacle surrounding her death almost seems to befit the New York style icon that she was right up to her final breath. Ms Kaplan was known for […]

Zelda Rubinstein (1933 - 2010)

In 1978 Zelda Rubinstein decided to pursue an acting career. She studied acting at the University of California. Poltergeist was her first major film role. She remained active in film and television thereafter, frequently portraying various psychic characters, such as her appearance on Jennifer Slept Here. She also narrated the horror television series, Scariest Places […]

Zelda Sears (1873 - 1935)

Actress, Screenwriter. Born in Brockway, Michigan, she was in an opera chorus when she began her as a stage performer at Manhattan Theater in the early 1900s. In addition to acting, she was playwriting librettos for several long-running musicals when she relocated to Hollywood to appear in the film “Cornered” (1924). As a writer and […]

Zena Moyra Marshall (1926 - 2009)

Actress. In a twenty year movie and television career, she will be best remembered as an early “Bond Girl”, the traitorous Miss Taro from 1962’s “Dr. No”. Raised in Leicestershire after her father’s death and mother’s remarriage, she was educated in Catholic schools and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. After wartime service with […]

Zena Virginia Keefe (1896 - 1976)

Actress. Born in San Francisco, California, she first appeared in several stage productions as a child, most notably the 1899 production of Palmer Cox’s “Brownies In Fairyland”, before entering films. A star of the silent film era, she first found work with the William Fox Studios, before signing a contract with the Vitagraph Company of […]

Zenzaburo Kojima (1970 - 1970)

Famous Western-style painter. Many of his works are on display at the Ohtani Memorial Gallery in Nishinomiya city. (bio by: Warrick L. Barrett)

Zephaniah Swift Moore (1770 - 1823)

Educator, Religious Leader. He grew up in Wilmington, Vermont and attended Clio Hall, a private academy in Bennington. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Dartmouth College and became a Congregational clergyman, serving as Minister of the church in Leicester, Massachusetts for eleven years. Moore was a highly regarded religious leader, with several of his […]

Zeppo Marx (1901 - 1979)

Zeppo Marx was born in Manhattan, New York City on February 25, 1901. His parents were Sam Marx (called “Frenchie” throughout his life), and his wife, Minnie Schönberg Marx. Minnie’s brother was Al Shean. Marx’s family was Jewish. His mother was from East Frisia in Germany; and his father was a native of France, and […]

Zerelda James (1825 - 1911)

Born as Zerelda Elizabeth Cole in Woodford County, Kentucky her parents were James and Sarah Lindsay Cole; she had one younger brother, Jesse Richard Cole. One year younger than she, her brother committed suicide in 1895 for undisclosed reasons. When Zerelda James was a small child, her father broke his neck in a riding accident leaving […]

Zhang Ruifang (1918 - 2012)

Award Winning Actress. A longtime star of the Chinese screen, she was recognized as one of her country’s four ‘Dan Actresses’. Born at Baodung, little is recorded of her early years save that in 1940 she made her silver screen debut in “Fire Baptism”. Zhang was to continue performing and in 1962 was to have […]

Zhanna Friske (1974 - 2015)

Russian Actress, Singer, Model, and Socialite. She first became famous when she joined the all-girl pop singing group Blestyashchie in 1996, and left in 2003 to embarked on a solo career as a singer, actress, and occasional model, and keeps enjoying strong media interest. Internationally Friske is known for her roles in the films Night […]

Ziad Jarrah (1975 - 2001)

Ziad Samir Jarrah (Arabic: زياد سمير جراح‎‎, Ziyād Samīr Ǧarrāḥ; May 11, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was an al-Qaeda member and one of the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks; serving as the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, crashing the plane into a field in a rural area near Shanksville, Pennsylvania—after a passenger […]

Zig Ziglar (1926 - 2012)

Zig Ziglar was born in Coffee County in southeastern Alabama to John Silas Ziglar and Lila Wescott Ziglar. He was the tenth of twelve children.  In 1931, when Ziglar was five years old, his father took a management position at a Mississippi farm, and his family moved to Yazoo City, Mississippi, where he spent most […]

Zilphia Horton (1910 - 1956)

Zilphia Horton (April 14, 1910 – April 11, 1956) was an American musician, community organizer, educator, Civil Rights activist, and folklorist. She is best known for her work with her husband Myles Horton at the Highlander Folk School where she is generally credited with turning such songs as “We Shall Overcome”, “Keep Your Eyes on […]

Zina Bethune (1945 - 2012)

Zina Bethune was born in New York City, the daughter of Ivy (née Vigder), an actress (born June 1, 1918, Sevastopol, Russia) and William Charles Bethune, a sculptor and painter who died in 1950 when Zina was five years old. Zina began her formal ballet training aged six at George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet. […]

Zinaida Raikh (1894 - 1939)

Actress. She was married to the poet Sergei Essenin from 1917 to 1921. Known more for her great beauty and fiery temperament than for her acting ability, she nevertheless became a star at the theatre of Vsevolod Meyerhold, whom she married in 1924. In 1939, Josef Stalin had Meyerhold arrested on trumped-up charges of anti-Soviet […]